The Injuries of Haruhi Suzumiya
by Another Duck
Summary: Haruhi isn't careful what she wishes for. Will she regret it?


The Injuries of Haruhi Suzumiya

A Haruhi Suzumiya fanfic.

Disclaimer: Haruhi Suzumiya and all related characters have been created by Haruhi without her own knowledge. Tanigawa Nagaru wrote it all down.

Summary: Haruhi isn't careful what she wishes for. Will she regret it?

Author's Notes:

This is one of those "be careful what you wish for", involving Haruhi. Where it takes place in the series isn't important, so no spoilers.

Also, if you know me, you'll understand that Haruhi really is one of my favourite characters after reading this fic.

/ Another Duck

* * *

Haruhi was irritated. The brigade were in the clubroom that in all honesty was supposed to belong to Nagato's club. But then, Haruhi happened. However, that little piece of history didn't matter for the events that were to happen. All that mattered was Haruhi was irritated.

Why was she irritated, you ask? She had recently found out that Kyon's birthday was tomorrow. That in itself wasn't a cause for annoyance. What made her mood turn sour was that she found it hard to focus on what she planned to do, and even more so, the event that were going on in front of her, which was what stole her focus in the first place.

Mikuru wasn't as clumsy as the brigade leader wanted her to be. She was actually very well aware of that. However, out of all times to actually display a lack of coordination, this was one of the worst. She'd fallen, as simple as that, and scraped her knee. It wasn't a result Haruhi wanted from her club mascot's clumsiness. After all, it was better that the entire brigade was healthy. But someone had to take care of that knee, and since the school was out for the day, the school nurse wasn't around. So Kyon had volunteered. Big surprise there.

Back in the club room, with an irritated Haruhi, Kyon was currently in the process of cleaning Mikuru's knee. It wasn't wrong in itself, as someone had to do it. But he was taking it so slowly, and giving way too much attention to his patient. They had a first aid kit in the room, and how it got there was better left unexplained. So why didn't he just clean the injured knee and put on a band aid? It couldn't be harder than that, could it?

Haruhi would complain about it, but while she observed with her glaring eyes, she noticed that he actually seemed to know what he was doing. It wasn't something she was an expert at herself, but she did know how to take care of simple wounds. Kyon, on the other hand, made no unnecessary movements, and even if Mikuru whined at the slightest touch, it didn't seem to faze him at all.

Haruhi knew he reacted to every little thing that was a discomfort to Mikuru. This time, he was the cause himself. Yet, with practised ease, he cleaned out every speck of dirt he could see, and was now cutting a piece of dressing to fit precisely over the wound. He'd done this before. Haruhi strongly suspected his little sister was the reason for that. Someone as small and energetic as her would likely get injured more often than the average kid.

They were close, and that was probably one expression of that, Haruhi thought. They could probably yell and insult each other until their vocal chords were torn, but the moment one needed the other, they'd be there for each other. Or maybe that was just Kyon, she mused. After all, she had shouted at him plenty of times, and been generally unkind. He was still with her, and did occasionally actually show support for her, rather than just tagging along while complaining. And she knew she could easily forgive him even if he would strike her. He'd never done that, but as long as he wouldn't leave, it wouldn't have any serious impact on her mood.

Her thoughts did distract her from the current situation, and, she realised, solved at least one problem she'd been thinking about. But she was still annoyed at the attention he gave Mikuru. Haruhi was the brigade chief, their leader. She was the important one there, wasn't she? She wished he would give her the kind of attention he gave Mikuru. That was something she could never force him to do. If it wasn't out of his own, free will, it wasn't real. People may have believed Haruhi Suzumiya to be delusional, but she wasn't.

The current situation was still too distracting for her, so she decided to think about it elsewhere.

"I'm going home."

Tomorrow was Sunday, and she'd have more time then.

* * *

Haruhi had a bad afternoon yesterday. This morning, it was worse. She had planned to gather the brigade to do something fun, but when she called around, she got nothing but negative responses.

Mikuru was sick. She hinted at some kind of relation to why she fell the day before. Koizumi was busy. He didn't say why, but he was simply busy for the entire day, and could not possibly join them, no matter how much he wanted to.

Yuki had been invited by the computer club to join them in a game tournament. Haruhi had been prepared to offer her oh-so-polite opinion about that, but had refrained from it for two reasons. She remembered who it was she was speaking with, and raising her voice in that direction would simply not work as well as it did against her second in command. The second reason was that she had, against her will, promised Yuki that she would be allowed to occasionally spend time with the computer club if she wanted to. With the two others gone, it just didn't feel as important to drag the quiet one along when she for once was doing something other than sitting in a corner and reading a book.

That left Kyon. He wasn't the one who answered Haruhi's call. It was his mother. Apparently, they were going to visit some relatives for his birthday, and they would stay there until Monday evening, as it was a holiday. But this is where Haruhi had that tiny piece of luck that would counter all the previous disappointing feelings she had. Kyon didn't exactly like visiting those particular relatives, and his mother knew that. So, she cut Haruhi some slack and told her they would leave without Kyon, if only Haruhi would promise that he'd have a better time spending the day with the brigade. This being Haruhi Suzumiya, the answer was obvious. She said she would meet up with him at his place, as that would give her more time to think about what to do later.

After confirming that at least the second most important person for her plans was available, second to herself naturally, she went to buy a gift. Her original plans wouldn't do, as they required the other members as well, but she was sure she could think of something else along the way. At least she didn't have to think about the gift. That she had decided back in the brigade room. Now it was just a matter of finding a suitable place to buy it from.

She was in a good mood for the morning, if a bit nervous. She was going to spend the day alone with him, and the implication of that somehow made her anxious. It wasn't as if they hadn't been alone before, and she had done things for him before, even without asking for anything in return, so this shouldn't be anything special, right? She was probably just disturbed that the others weren't coming to the brigade meet. That had to be it.

She had expected the process to be fairly simple, and wouldn't take so long time. However, leaving the twentieth store feeling disappointed at the lack of options, it was beginning to grate on her nerves. Why would it be so difficult to find a gift she could comfortably give him? It wasn't as if it was anything special she had planned on buying. The time was getting short, and she soon had to either give up and meet up with Kyon, or call him and say she'd be late.

* * *

Half an hour later, Haruhi had made progress, and was walking out of a shop with an already wrapped present. It was the size of a lunch box, covered with green paper and blue band tying it together. Pressed on time, she decided to take a short cut through some less populated neighbourhoods. That was her first mistake.

"Hey, there, little girl."

A shady looking man approached her. Warning bells went off that increased her awareness of the situation tenfold. A quick glance backwards revealed another figure getting closer, obviously in league with the first one.

"What's that you're carrying? Some sort of expensive gift, hmm?"

She merely gritted her teeth, and tried to think of what to do. That's when he saw what he was hiding in his right hand. A switchblade.

"I think it looks a little heavy for a small girl such as yourself. Let me help you take care of it."

If she waited any longer, the second person would get close enough to interfere with whatever she could do, so she had to act quickly. She sprang forward, and tried to pass him to the right, as that would take her away from the weapon in his hand. As she did so, she showed him aside to break his balance, but just when she went by, he managed to spin around and swing the knife at her. He did lose his balance as she had planned, but he still managed to slash her upper arm. She managed to resist crying out, and ran as fast as she could. The two muggers weren't as quick as she was, and when she thought she had lost them, she turned around to see if they were still following. That was her second mistake.

With her head facing the wrong direction, she failed to see what was going on in front of her, and she ran straight into a passing bicyclist. As that was a larger male, the crash tossed her a fair distance into the air before she met the ground with her shoulder. While she managed to avoid hitting her head too badly, her side and arm was badly scraped, so now both her arms were injured.

Picking herself up from the ground, she could hear the bicyclist yell at her for her reckless running as he took off. No sympathy there. All she could do was moan about the situation and stare up at the skies. Or rather, at the dark clouds she hadn't noticed before. Dark clouds that decided this was an excellent time to give their love to the plants.

Trudging along in the surprisingly heavy rain, she realised she'd lost her way while escaping from the thugs. It wasn't like she had a bad sense of directions, and she knew she couldn't be that far away from where Kyon lived. There were two things she could think of to get back on track. She could either wander aimlessly until she found a place she recognised, or climb up a nearby hill and see if she could spot anything she recognised from up there. Figuring the second one was the safest way, and that she wouldn't risk spending too much time finding her way, she went off the street and started up on a narrow path. That was her third mistake.

At first, it went rather well. It was steep, sure, but that only meant she'd get higher up. However, after walking through a particularly tight spot between some bushes, a thorn caught her thigh. Looking down at the scratch, she saw that her skirt had few tears in it, and her shirt didn't fair much better. Lovely, she thought. The day was just getting better and better. She wondered how many pieces she'd be in by the end of it.

There were two ways to go, up or down. Down was through the thorny bushes again, and up was... more thorny bushes. She suddenly felt the taste of strawberries in her mouth, but dismissed the sensation as too random and nonsensical. Being who she was, she couldn't stop there, and continued climbing on the increasingly slippery slope.

Thorn after spine after brier grazed her skin. It stung, but she didn't think it was serious, at least compared to the earlier mishaps. A little blood was no problem for her. She could do this. After all, one didn't accomplish anything by giving up. A few minutes later, she had finally reached the top, and she was starting to feel a little unstable. But a climb like that should tire you out, shouldn't it?

The view, despite the rain, or maybe thanks to it, was beautiful. The nature up here was verdant, with bright colours all around her. Farther away the buildings spread out, with roads snaking their way through like dark rivers in the mountains. The skies were grey, but if one thought cities were grey as well, they hadn't seen this. Red, yellow, green, and blue colours were seen all over the area. She almost expected a rainbow to show, but with no direct sunlight anywhere, it was impossible. Yet, somehow, the view didn't need one to be complete.

As luck would have it, although she attributed it to her superior orientation skills, the street just below the hill in front of her was one she recognised. It was the one Kyon lived on. In fact, wasn't the person walking down that street with a bag of groceries him?

"Kyon!" shouted Haruhi.

He turned around, and she waved her free hand at him, the other holding the present. Happy her ordeal was finally over, she started to run towards him. That was her fourth mistake.

Her head was a little less clear than it usually was, and her coordination was off by just a tiny bit. It was still enough to for her to place her foot slightly to the side of the rock she used as a stepping stone. Her ankle twisted painfully to the side, throwing her body along with it. The ground at that point only sloped down, towards Kyon.

Losing her sense of direction as she tumbled down, she could only hug the present close to her so she wouldn't lose it, and hope she could stop her descent. At least the ground was soft thanks to the rain, but the mud still had rocks in it, and those struck her from time to time. She was beginning to understand how her clothes felt as she washed them. It wasn't exactly pleasant.

It finally stopped. The world wasn't spinning anymore, and she could actually see a figure running towards her. Gingerly, she stood up, supporting her entire weight on one leg, and waited for him to come close to her. He wasn't the first thing that showed up. No, that was a car, which drove past her at a high speed. Naturally, there was a large puddle of water in front of her as well. A muddy puddle of water at that. The outcome was fairly predictable by now, so it was just too bad she didn't have time to see what was happening before it was too late.

A soggy, limping, and overall quite miserable Haruhi stood waiting for Kyon as he took the final few steps over the street to meet her. When he came close enough, she extended the present to him and smiled.

"Happy birthday, Kyon!"

With those words, and her current mission complete, she fell forward, and crashed into him.

* * *

The ceiling was glaring at Haruhi. It was white and too bright for her eyes, so she closed them again. She was otherwise quite comfortable in her bed. Wait, it couldn't be her own bed, could it? She opened her eyes again, and came face to face with the curious face of Kyon. She blinked. Then, slowly, the memories of what happened returned to her. Or more specifically, she became aware of all the cuts and bruises she had. The bed became significantly less comfortable, but she imagined it would be even worse if she hadn't been placed there.

"Haruhi, are you okay?"

His voice wasn't concerned, as far as she could determine, but then, she knew he was well versed in hiding his emotions. The words were concerned, and that made her feel a little better.

"It hurts and stings."

She wasn't quite used to expressing how she felt like this, as opposed to complaining that she was bored, so she was uncertain how the words came out. She almost wanted to feel miserable about the whole situation, but was still too stubborn to let go of the optimism she so often displayed. In the end, she just let out a tired sigh.

"I need to check up on your shoulder again."

Again? Well, that made sense. He had to have done something to it, as it didn't feel as bad as it did before. Then, the fleeting thought she had when she woke up entered her mind again. Where was she anyway? She sprang up and took in the room. She'd been there before. It was Kyon's room, and she was now sitting on a futon in the middle of the floor. She turned to give him a questioning look, but noticed he was looking pointedly away from her. Then she glanced down.

She was only wearing her bra. It took her a second to realise the implications of that, and quickly grabbed the blanket that had fallen down to cover herself. It was a very rare thing to see her blushing, and that embarrassed her far more than being seen half naked, so she laid back down and pulled the cover over her face.

Being seen half naked by him, her mind reminded her. The earlier days in the school were brought up as her mind refused to let the topic go. The earlier days when she started changing into her P.E. uniform despite the male half of the class remaining in the classroom. Then she most definitely didn't care, so she couldn't care now. The thoughts helped, and when she felt her face cooling down, she stopped hiding, feeling a little silly about it.

"Did you have fun undressing me?"

"No."

The answer was so prompt it surprised her. _No_? Didn't he think she was pretty? Was there something wrong with her? Was it because she wasn't as cute and well endowed as Mikuru? _No_? Haruhi heard her own voice saying that last word out loud. As if that wasn't bad enough, the disappointed tone of it made her wince, but at least managed to swallow that reaction.

"One of my neighbours is a doctor. She saw us when I was carrying you inside, and helped out a bit."

"Oh."

Dammit! What was it that disappointed tone in her voice? Why wouldn't it just leave?

A sticky, pulling sensation in her shoulder brought her back to the situation at hand. Kyon was removing the dressing on what she thought was the biggest wound she had. At least, it was the one that was the most painful.

"I'm just going to clean it out a little better."

He didn't say that it might hurt a bit, as she would've expected from most physicians, improvised or not. Especially as she knew it would hurt. And it did. This time, her wincing showed, although she did admittedly have less reason to hide it. She wanted to be strong, especially in front of him, although for some reason, this wasn't so bad. At least he was smiling. Hey, why was he smiling anyway?

"You're enjoying this, aren't you? Being able to—ouch—get away with touching me like that, and being—ow—in control like that."

"You're more pleasant when you're not yelling orders all the time."

She didn't have an answer to that. In fact, she wasn't sure it was something he meant to say out loud, as it sounded more like he was thinking. Either way, it calmed her down, and made her think of her promise to his mother. It made her feel a little melancholic.

"Tell your mother I'm sorry that I ruined your day. I promised her I'd make your day better than if you'd go visit your relatives."

He seemed to brighten up. His expressions were hard to read, but she thought she picked that one out correctly. Why would that brighten him up? Was it because she apologised? She rarely did that. No, that wasn't it. It didn't make sense.

"No, this beats meeting stuffy relatives I don't care about, and I had to break in my new first aid kit anyway."

Don't care about them. So he cares about her? Well, she always assumed that, or at least hoped, but never knew to what level. But... wait. Care. Taking care of. Wasn't that what she had wished for the day before? No, she'd wished for attention, but isn't this the same thing?

Staring up at the ceiling now that it didn't glare at her, she considered her day. All those mistakes she did, they all added up to this. What was the outcome of that whole mess, once everything was calculated and categorised? All those accidents, and not a single mistake. She closed her eyes, and let out a content sigh.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Thus ends the story.

I liked writing this fic. Getting Haruhi into trouble is fun. The original plan was to write it in first person perspective, but that didn't work out so well, so I did the next best thing. Haruhi is a hard character to write like that, as her thought patterns aren't exactly standard. Also, the word _melancholic_ is mandatory in any Haruhi fic, right?

/ Another Duck


End file.
